Nuneaton crypto game seeking investment

A Nuneaton-based gaming startup looking to integrate cryptocurrency into a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is seeking external investment to realise its ambition.

Mammoth Mythics was founded by Jack O’Connor and Jack Colclough, who met at college in Nuneaton. After college, their interesting in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology led to them both consulting for large companies in the industry.

After looking for a way to combine their expertise with their great passion – video games – the pair developed Agartha, an MMORPG with both player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) elements, similar to genre monolith World of Warcraft.

Success in the game will see players rewarded with both cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) which can be sold, rented or traded in the physical world.

Mammoth Mythics plans to run a ‘freemium’ economic model, which makes the game free-to-play with microtransactions (in-game items purchasable with real money) monetising the experience.

The game will also use a taxation system which will apply when a player withdraws or deposits currency (both traditional and crpyto) to use within or outside the game.

Jake said: “The market in video gaming is massive, with over 3 billion players at the moment. Much of that market is for games like World of Warcraft and Fortnite, where players part with their cash each month purely to play but receive nothing of real-world value back.

“Furthermore, if they decide that they no longer wish to play the game any longer, all that time, money and effort is lost. By using blockchain technology within gaming, players can realize and utilize their digital assets, even if they are no longer playing the game. This is true digital ownership.

“There are ‘play-to-earn’ cryptocurrency games on the market where players have the opportunity to earn crypto, but those games are typically dull and unimaginative.  As a consequence, they attract a niche audience who play for the financial gains rather than the enjoyment of gaming.

“We came up with the idea of Agartha to create a truly enjoyable gaming experience that will attract mainstream players, but that can also earn them in-game currency which has real world value, and most importantly, gives them complete ownership of their digital assets.

“And digital assets are becoming more and more popular – a Deloitte survey found 76% of financial executives believe that digital assets will be a strong alternative or replacement for traditional currencies in the next five to ten years.

“As we are prioritising the quality of the game over anything else, our players will stick around unlike the current play-to-earn games on the market.

“It also features a companion app called Mammoth Mythics Academy, which teaches players the basics of blockchain technology like crypto and NFTs so players unfamiliar with these concepts can understand them. As this is new technology, we want to educate people and really show them the benefits of digital ownership through the medium of gaming.”

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To help develop their business and prepare it for investment, Jake and Jack worked with business advice service Business Ready, based at the University of Warwick Science Park, which supports expanding businesses, and is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Warwickshire County Council as part of the CW Business: Start, Grow & Scale Programme.

To prove the game’s viability, Jake and Jack need external investment to develop and launch a demo version of the game.

Ian McFarlane-Toms, Business Ready Programme Manager, knew Jake through his previous role at electric scooter firm Eskuta, which Business Ready had helped before.

Ian said: “Blockchain technology is a relatively new market and has a small but very dedicated following. It’s fair to say it hasn’t quite broken through into the mainstream yet.

“After speaking to Jake and Jack, I thought their ideas were highly ambitious and encouraged them to seek investment. However, they needed a bit of help in demonstrating that the business was viable, so I advised them on creating a high-quality pitch deck, and a range of sources for external investment.

“It’s early days but I’m hopeful they will get the funding they need and bring Agartha to life.”

Jake said: “Ian’s advice on how to make Mammoth Mythics a more investable product has been really useful. We really believe in our ideas, but you need to present them in the right way to impress investors.

“Business Ready has helped us fine-tune our concepts and our pitch deck to make Mammoth Mythics as attractive to investors as possible. It’s a really exciting time for us and we’re hopeful of securing external investment very soon.”

Cllr Martin Watson, portfolio holder for economy at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Warwickshire has a growing reputation, both nationally and internationally, as being a hub of creativity in the digital and gaming world.

“We have been delighted to support the innovation in the market shown by businesses like Mammoth Mythics so that this progress can be maintained and the county remains an attractive place to set up business, invest and work.”

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